


Afterworld

by suzunofuu



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin, Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin
Genre: Angst, Drabble, M/M, Requited Love, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 04:20:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16298060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzunofuu/pseuds/suzunofuu
Summary: It's the motherfucking end of the world, but at least they have each other.





	Afterworld

Suzuno's left arm is bleeding all over their clothes and onto the floor, and Nagumo's been praying all the way from the outsides of the farm that it's a cut, just a cut, a mere simple cut, that Suzuno isn't infected and he won’t lose him.

Nagumo helps Suzuno drop down to the floor in a corner of the room, his own ankle twisted and his shoulder heavily bruised from the hit he's taken. He finds an old rag that seems clean enough and uses it to cover Suzuno's wound as best as he can. Suzuno hisses as he's tying it tight enough that even if he were infected, the infection wouldn't spread to the rest of his body.

Once he's done and it seems like the hemorrhage has stopped, he falls back onto his buttocks, knackered and helpless and terrified, his baseball bat close to him, Suzuno’s shotgun on the floor by his leg.

They stay in silence for some minutes, only breathing, only resting and recovering as much as they can. They’re sweaty and covered in dirt, in blood, in scratches and bruises, but all they can feel is the terrorizing desolation the past weeks and events have seeded in their stomachs. There’s no hope, no faith, no escape―this profound and vast fear, the imperious necessity of putting each other safe, is all they have left inside them, what keeps them moving even when knowing they can’t go on for much longer.

Suzuno realizes―when his head stops spinning and throbbing―that their hands are clasped together. He looks at Nagumo and, although he's been denying it ever since this started and although he's tried with all he has to avoid it (which is the reason why now he's this injured) there's a high chance they won't make it to the safe zone alive. They barely know where they are, his mobile is a day away from dying, all forms of communications are failing, they've crossed no other person in the past two weeks, and they're running out of food. Their time is about to come, but if he can avoid it, if he can assure something, is that even if he can't make it, Nagumo sure as hell will. Over his dead body if it’s necessary.

He sits up as best as he can, Nagumo's worried, tired eyes lifting up to check if he's okay. He looks into Nagumo's eyes, knows that they barely shared anything back in their normal days and that he's been bare and open ever since they started this journey, knows that there's no point pretending any longer, and that Nagumo isn't pretending either.

He puts his hands around Nagumo's face and squeezes, heart clenching and expanding and bleeding all the same. Nagumo grabs at his wrists, pressing his hands tighter against his face, his fingers trembling, his jaw clenched painfully. Suzuno can’t―nor won’t―deny it: the desperation and fear for their lives have brought up the best and most of what they feel for each other. They’ve always been connected, always felt affection for one another even if they played to abhor each other. After two brutal weeks of running and fighting and seeing the other on the border of dying, there’s only pure, honest devotion left. There’s only love. And dread, braided with the love all the way to their cores, pushing them up every time they think they can’t, keeping them alive for one more minute, for one more second.

Suzuno’s thumbs press on Nagumo’s cheeks. His mouth is dry and tastes horribly when he mutters, “There’s a high chance we won’t make it out of here.”

Suzuno can see Nagumo’s whole world crashing down on him because he knows he’s right, knows they’re out of strength. Nagumo’s head vows, but he makes sure Suzuno’s hands stay around his face, pressing them close.

“I’m sorry,” Suzuno breathes out, eyes itchy.

Nagumo shakes his head. “We’ll make it. We’re almost there, we just-“

“Haruya–“

“No,” Nagumo interrupts, stubborn, desperate, “we’ve made it this long, we can’t give up now.”

“I’m not giving up. I’m not,” Suzuno assures, waits a second to fill himself with enough courage and lifts Nagumo’s face. “I’m just saying–” He can’t stare at Nagumo, so he presses their foreheads together and closes his eyes. It’s easier to say it this way. “Chances are we both won’t make it. If there comes a time when I can save you and I have to stay behind, I will take the chance.”

Nagumo separates, a frown of total disapproval and disbelief on his face. “What are you even–”

“If there comes a moment when I can’t save myself but I can save you, I will do anything at hand to put you safe. I don’t care what it takes.”

Suzuno is so, so tired from everything that’s been going on. He just wants―he only wants Nagumo to be save. That’s everything he needs.

“I’m not letting you die, you hear me? You are not dying on me.” Nagumo presses their foreheads together again, this time so they can stare into each other’s eyes as directly as possible, his right hand cupping Suzuno’s head. Every muscle he has, every nerve, every part of him is shaking out of his control―the exhaustion, the fright, the impotence making him weak. “If you go I’m going, is that clear? If you go I’m going.”

Suzuno wants to argue, wants to make sure they’ve stablished the boundaries and lines and walls and whatever else there is to set in stone, wants Nagumo to accept that he’ll be the one surviving, but the insistence of his words and voice, the determination on his eyes, has his heart melting, breaking, expanding, makes him unable to put up a fight.

He relaxes against the wall, pulls Nagumo in with him and fits against him as better as they can, holding him close to his body.

Outside, the sun is starting to rise. They’ve been running all night, escaping from the hands and the eyes of the infected, abandoned to the uncertainty of the darkness, preys of those who could see or smell them. They should rest, but they should also travel now that they can see their surroundings and defend themselves properly. The infected don’t seem to feel tired, and that’s a huge perk against humanity. Suzuno hasn’t had the time to wonder how this all started, what caused it, if there’s a possibility of curing everyone or getting rid of them.

Nagumo nuzzles closer to him, pressing a hot, chaste kiss to his neck, and all possible questions die in his mind. His arms close up around Nagumo, fingers clawing at him, his face hiding against Nagumo’s shoulder. If it wasn’t this situation, if their lives weren’t at risk, God, what he’d do, the kisses he’d give him. But this is the situation they are in, and their lives are at risk. His desires to be close to Nagumo must be put aside, must be left forgotten. His primal priority is to make sure Nagumo has a life to live away from all danger. There’s no space for love or desire in any of this.

Their clothes are dirty and sweaty, their hands calloused and feeling raw. Nagumo puts one of his hands on his hip and the other around his back, snuggling into his neck. “If you go I go,” he repeats, as if he had to settle it. “There wouldn’t be anything left for me if you weren’t here. You're my heart.”

Suzuno fastens his arms around him, Nagumo’s words hammering hard and unforgiving at his core, bringing out tears. “You're my heart too.”

Nagumo trembles against him, if from fear or love, Suzuno couldn't tell. His hand cups the back of Nagumo's head, fingertips pressing kindly, tremulously, on his scalp.

“I’m so fucking scared.”

Nagumo nods shakily, desperately. “I’m so scared too.”

Suzuno can’t hold it in for long, can’t swallow up the sadness and dull pain, it’s all making him sore and vulnerable, stripping him off the poor strength he’s had to cover himself with so they could make it this far.

Once Suzuno starts sobbing, Nagumo can’t fight it back either.

They clasp at each other inconsolably, as tight as humanly possible, holding each other’s pieces together in the frailness of their minds.

They don’t know if they will make it to the safe zone, don’t know if there will be a tomorrow, but there’s a today, a now, a right this second that they can enjoy despite the state they’re in. They don’t know for how long they can carry on, but they’ve found each other in this sickening path they’re crossing. That, even if small, is something to hold on, something to keep them sane. It’s more than enough.

It’s the spark they need to make it out alive.


End file.
